The less said about this mismatch the better as Navarrete won every round, knocked down Lopez with a combination of punches in the fifth round, and finished him off with a right hand to the body in the sixth round.
An argument could have been made for stopping the fight after the first knockdown or even between the fifth and sixth rounds as nothing Lopez was going to be able to do against the harder hitting and far busier Navarrete was going to turn the tide and pull off a miracle.
I'm becoming a bit torn on Navarrete.
I love how he loves to stay active ( the win over Lopez was his seventh since winning his title over Issac Dogboe in December 2018), and I really like his two-fisted style that throws a lot of punches, yet packs power in those punches.
However, his opponents since the Dogboe rematch have left plenty to be desired and each of the three fighters that share the top of the division with him- WBA/IBF champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev, former WBA/IBF champion Danny Roman (who lost a split decision to Akhmadaliev that could have gone to either fighter), and WBC champion Rey Vargas, have all fought better opponents than anyone on the resume' of Navarrete with the exception of Dogboe.
While I would like to see Navarrete fight any of the three (all of which are signed with different promoters) and each would present a different set of problems, Navarrete needs to get in the ring with the first one that agrees to a contract and as soon as possible.
Navarrete isn't being tested and he could begin to stagnate.
If it's that big of an issue signing to fight any of those three and it simply cannot be signed, then, by all means, move to featherweight where Top Rank has more stars in the division (IBF champion Josh Warrington, Xu Can, Carl Frampton, Jessie Magdaleno, and Michael Conlan) and with the WBO's rules for champions moving up, Navarrete would immediately step to the front of the line for a fight with champion Shakur Stevenson (Top Rank) or would automatically be installed for a slot in a fight for the vacant title should Stevenson decide to move up in weight.
One way or another, Navarrete needs to be tested soon because we all will tire watching these squash matches after a while...
In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each scored two points for the knockout win.
I maintained my seven-point lead at 53-46.
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